• In Cambridge, 45 miles north of the Twin Cities, activists will demonstrate from 11:30 a.m. to noon outside the McDonald’s at 11 Garfield St. South. [Click here to download the event flier.]

Fast-food workers across the country are joining together to fight for better wages, and their campaign has picked up steam over the last year. Workers staged short-term strikes in a handful of cities in August, demanding $15 per hour and the freedom to form a union without retaliation from their employers.

Protests tomorrow are expected in 100 cities, and solidarity demonstrations are expected in 100 more, including Cambridge and Minneapolis.

Labor and faith groups backing the local demonstrations are part of a coalition pushing Minnesota lawmakers to pass a bill this winter that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $9.50 by 2015. That effort gained momentum last week, thanks to a series of actions around the metro highlighting the impact poverty wages have on working families and their communities.

The study found 52 percent of front-line workers in the fast-food industry rely on public assistance – like food stamps and Medicaid – to support themselves or their families, costing taxpayers nearly $7 billion per year.

“In the richest country in the world, no one working full-time should be living in poverty,” Ellison said. “The movement against poverty wages gets stronger each time a working American bravely stands up. I stand with the workers walking off the job today because too many people working at fast-food restaurants are barely able to put food on their own tables.”